


Lamda

by tanyart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A morning at the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lamda

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in three parts on twitlonger in between midterm delirium.

There is a special brand of crazy that involves waking up at five on a Saturday morning to wrestle on a wetsuit and haul a surfboard all the way to a beach when the sand is still cold and the sun can’t be bothered to shine through the overcast sky. Jean throws his board to the side, full of grumpy morning resentment even when Eren grins up at him from his spot on the ground.

“You made it after all.” Eren tugs him down by the suit’s lanyard and Jean’s resentment increases tenfold just for that.

“And you’re insane,” Jean says, sitting and shivering. He flips the lid to his thermos and gulps down the lukewarm tea.

There is sand clinging to Eren’s feet and shins, meaning he had already splashed through the water. He reaches for the thermos, hands completely covered in wet sand. Jean swats them away and tips the thermos towards Eren’s mouth instead until the liquid spills down Eren’s chin and two seconds later Jean gets a face full of indignant tea spray.

“Ugh! You asshole.”

“There’s a whole ocean you can wash off in,” Eren says, unapologetic. He rolls on his side to drag Jean’s surfboard closer, drawing the up leash and strapping it around Jean’s ankle for him. “Come on.”

“Seriously?” Jean grumbles and wipes his face. He readjusts the leash in irritation but leaves Eren’s hands around his ankle. “It’s too cold.”

Eren frowns, grip tightening, and dives forward into Jean, kissing him hard enough to knock him over. The air whooshes out of Jean’s lungs but he goes hot and burning all over so apparently Eren’s got all the solutions. Eren’s got teeth too, and tongue, a hand fisted in Jean’s hair and the other braced against Jean’s chest. Jean barely gets in his own kiss in before Eren pushes off and stands.

“Don’t tell me you woke up this early just to sit here and complain,” Eren says, breathless and sounding way too smug about it.

Jean scrambles to his feet, grabbing his surfboard and slapping Eren across the back with it.

“No, I didn’t,” he says, running, and beats Eren to the water.

* * *

The water isn’t as cold as Jean expects it to be. He takes on a few small waves, barely high enough to glide over to get his muscles warmed up. The rest of the time he spends sitting on his board further out from the beach, rocking with the ocean’s gentle movement. He sees Eren some distance away, riding unsteadily on a wave, probably misjudging his timing from the start. Jean breaks into a grin as he watches Eren tumble off, surfboard flipping up in the air before the leash jerks it back.

“Nice one!” he shouts as Eren drags his sorry ass back to shore.

Eren flops onto the sand, chest heaving, and gives himself three seconds of respite before going back into the water. A minute later he paddles towards Jean, sporting a newly scraped arm. The bright red blood looks worse than it is because of Eren’s wet skin, and they both know salt water is good for that sort of thing anyway.

“Let me see that.” Jean snickers, reaching for Eren’s arm. He’s got his own bruises and cuts too, usually from washing up over rough sand or sharp pebbles, but Eren’s scrape is minor enough to poke at. “Does it hurt?”

Eren drifts closer to Jean, surfboards bumping. “No, but I hope this does,” he says and uses his arm to shove Jean off and into the water, which is perfect because it gives Jean the advantage of grabbing onto Eren’s board to tip him over.

Sometime between the grappling and splashing Jean grabs on to both sides of Eren’s face, drags him underwater, and smashes their lips together. His eyes are screwed shut so he can’t see Eren’s expression, but he can feel the bubbles escape from Eren’s mouth, and a moment later he _definitely_ feels Eren’s hand push his face away.

He comes up for air, grinning, and sees Eren sputtering and clinging on to his surfboard.

“You got water up my nose!”

Jean smirks. “You want me to get it out for you?”

Eren gives him a weird look.

Jean bristles. “Stupid, I meant through your mouth! You know, kissing?”

Looking less and less impressed by the second, Eren hefts himself onto Jean’s surfboard. “That’s still gross, Jean. So you’re gonna just suck the water from my nose through my m-”

“Oh, my god. No. You shut up and get off my board.” Jean climbs on, trying to maintain his balance as Eren shifts aside to make room. Surprisingly, it isn’t hard. “Get off,” he repeats, scooting towards the middle.

Eren looks past his shoulder and grins. “Sure thing,” he says and drops back into the water.

Jean scowls, suspicions rising when he notices how fast Eren is paddling away.

There is a dip in the water and he feels the downward swell building up which can only mean a wave is about to catch him off guard. Jean shouts a hasty _fuck you_  at Eren before he is swept up and over.

And in the end dragging his own sorry ass back to shore is no big deal until Eren shouts “nice one” like it’s some big karmatic event. Jean flops gracelessly onto the sand and complains about all the water he’s gotten up his nose.

There’s actually no water up his nose of course, but Eren doesn’t seem to mind when he has to pretend to suck the water through their mouths either so Jean chalks it up as a wipe out worth having.

* * *

There is a small path that opens up on the beach during low tide, usually too early in the mornings for both the locals and tourists to come across. Unless they were Eren, obviously, and maybe a resentful tagalong boyfriend forced to endure it.

They leave their surfboards between a pair of boulders and pick their way over a rocky outcrop.

Jean finds it weird that Eren has a certain fascination with the ocean—or maybe it’s better to say that Jean finds it grudgingly endearing rather than weird. It doesn’t matter if Eren has lived on the coast all his life and probably knows every underwater cave and cliff face within ten miles up and down the shoreline. He still takes the time to walk across the beach and explore just for the hell of it. Jean wouldn’t be surprised if Eren had been something like a fish or sea anemone in a past life.

“Or maybe someone who had never seen the ocean before,” Eren says thoughtfully. He kneels down and inspects one of the colorful tide pools.

“Huh. Maybe.” Jean kneels down beside him, mindful of the starfish and cluster of mussels next to his foot. “Then that probably makes me the guy who didn’t know how good he had it.”

“Nah. I don’t think so,” Eren says, because he somehow always has to disagree with Jean on everything, even hypothetical past situations.

Jean stares at him. “You were definitely a sea anemone. Stubborn. Weird-looking. Stings other anemones until they move. Able to regenerate arms when they fall off.”

“Uh-huh.”

“With a mouth that is also a butt.”

“I am going to take that starfish and slam it into your face.”

Jean addresses the starfish; “See what I mean?”

When Eren does slam something into Jean’s face, it isn’t the starfish. It’s his forehead. Jean reels away, putting his hands up.

“Okay, okay!” he begins, trying for a distraction while Eren rubs his own forehead. “How about we go to that cave now? The tide should still be low enough.”

He gestures behind him, pointing towards a tall cliff face. Going inside a cave that happens to fill up with water more than half the day seems stupid enough as it is, but Jean has yet to regret swimming through it despite all his initial complaints.

Eren glances over, surprised.

“Alright,” he says with a wry smile.

And Jean realizes he’s getting to be that special brand of crazy too.

**Author's Note:**

> Please check out this lovely follow up [comic](http://seventypercentethanol.tumblr.com/post/62060531482).


End file.
